Orange Maple Syrup

I decided I needed a break, so I took off the week of Thanksgiving to relax and spend some much needed time with Squirrel and my family. I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving feast and stuffed yourself until your stretchy pants couldn’t stretch one stitch more.

I spent the week preparing for our feast, sipping wine, baking cookies, and decorating for Christmas. My little brother and I convinced my parents to buy us a “for reals” tree this year. I may not live with my parents, but I’m still a kid at heart. I even make my mom stuff a stocking for me. Each year she tries to get out of doing it, but I whine until I get my way. I’m evil (and spoiled).

I may not have posted anything last week, but I still spent a significant amount of time in the kitchen. Since the gift-giving season is upon us, I decided to create some recipes that make great gifts. Everyone loves food, so why not wrap it up and give it away as gifts during the holidays?

This orange-maple syrup is perfect for gifting.

This recipe is extremely simple to throw together. It comes together in 5 minutes. All you’ll need for this recipe is a pot and a whisk.

Combine the maple syrup, orange juice, orange zest, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil and simmer until the syrup thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Take the syrup off the stove and allow the it to come to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla extract and pour the mixture into an 8-ounce (pint-size) mason jar. Slap a bow on it and it’s ready to be gifted.

The sweet syrup has lovely orange flavor with a hint of spicy cinnamon in the background.

Orange Maple Syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup Grade A maple syrup

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 tablespoon brown sugar

pinch cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a small saucepan, bring the maple syrup, orange juice, orange zest, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a gentle boil over medium-low heat. Simmer, whisking occasionally, until the mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to come to room temperature. Whisk in the vanilla syrup. Pour the mixture into an 8-ounce mason jar. Refrigerate until ready to use.

freshly baked

26 Responses to “Orange Maple Syrup”

I didn’t think maple syrup could get much better, but this sounds amazing! I love doing homemade gifts for Christmas, and will definitely be making a batch of this syrup this year (assuming I can resist eating it all myself). Happy post-Thanksgiving! :)

Yum, great combo. I also love to make a coffee/espresso maple syrup as a gift. I am so spoiled too! My mom still does stockings for me and my two brothers. We even got her to start doing it for our dogs too! Bad kids hahaha!

How beautiful is this? I’ve been thinking about making some food gifts this year, and this is definitely something I can do! Can I ask where you got those cute little white spoons? I need something like that but haven’t been able to find any.

Oh, this looks so good! I’d have a hard time giving it as gifts because I’d want to eat it all :). I also convince my parents to do all kinds of things, am such a kid at heart, and am soooo spoiled. But I’m okay with that!

YUM. and welcome back! everyone needs a break every now and again. i think i said to mr. table over the holidays that i’m not sure why all of us food bloggers who also cook thanksgiving dinner don’t all want to jump in the SEA during this time of year; SO MUCH FOOD-MAKING! and it gets to be too much, for sure.
this looks WONDERFUL: orange things are my jam in the winter; it makes everything so fresh, and i love that.